Growing up in the Bus

One Scary Night (excerpt from Paradise by Candlelight)

There was no way to prepare for sleeping on the streets, hidden with five kids inside a traveling monstrosity unacceptable to the time and culture in which they lived. Glenn fired up the bus and drove down the road. They had very little gas and no idea of where they would go. Susan stood beside him on the second step down, wanting to see out the window. Peering intently into the darkness, she looked for any indication as to where they might stay. After traveling about a mile on their journey into the new unknown they turned on Santa Barbara Street. A bit further down this road they crossed some railroad tracks, and Glenn noticed a short, adjacent side street. No houses were nearby, and it looked trashy with abandoned cars and junk lying around in a nearby vacant field.

“I wonder if this is the wrong side of the tracks?” he joked.

“Don’t worry,” Susan answered. “Every side is going to be wrong.”

“Yeah? So let’s park.” He pulled the bus to the curb and turned the key off.

In the dark, she began to think of several reasons why it would be a mistake to park there and mentioned them all. Her biggest fear was losing the kids. Glenn felt that too but reassured his wife that whatever would happen could just happen there, and there wasn’t going to be a better place.

They climbed into bed and remained awake listening for sounds. With trepidation they waited for the dreaded high whine of a police cruiser to pull up alongside. A few feet away a train startled them, roaring by with its screaming whistle and earth-shaking vibrations rattling the bus. The spinning white light momentarily filled the interior of the bus as it passed.

“Lord,” Glenn prayed, his deep voice penetrating the darkness. “Please protect us from anything that can happen. Take care of my family, please.”

“Yes,” added his wife. “We need to be rescued from all of this. Please don’t let anything happen to the children. We need your help.”

Susan awakened around 2:00 AM, suddenly alarmed. She had heard that recognizable sound, the one she feared most.

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